The Texas Education Agency, where Moses served as education commissioner from 1995-99, gave Dallas Indepen-dent School District schools worse rankings in 2000 in all four of its major categories compared with the 1999 rankings.

Moses has interviewed for the DISD superintendent's job but has not been offered the job. A Dallas school trustee said Thursday that the school board has no other candidate, and trustees have posted a meeting Monday to interview superintendent candidates and select ''a finalist or finalists.''

''I was not aware of that posting,'' Moses said Friday afternoon. ''I don't know if I'll go over (to Dallas) Monday or not.''

Moses interviewed for the job twice on Sept. 29 and has called it ''intriguing." But he also said he is happy in Lubbock as Texas Tech's deputy chancellor, the position he took in September 1999 after resigning as state education commissioner. Moses also was superintendent of Lubbock public schools from 1989-99.

Schools with the best performances are ranked ''exemplary,'' and the second ranking is ''recognized.'' Most schools receive an ''acceptable'' ranking, and the lowest-ranking category is ''low performing.''

From 1999 to 2000, Dallas lost schools in exemplary, recognized and acceptable categories and tripled the number of its schools in the low performing category, according to the TEA ranking.

The district is the nation's ninth largest with more than 160,000 students.

''There are a lot of kids in that school district, and that district is in need of some leadership,'' Moses said. ''I call it a great challenge.''

School board members have interviewed Dallas County Judge Lee Jackson and Randolph Ward, the administrator of a Los Angeles-area public school district. Both candidates were rejected Sept. 28, the day before Moses' interviews.